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It’s been a while since Eliot Wolf last spoke to the media, and the Patriots personnel executive took a long look back at last season and came on Wednesday pointing the finger at himself after a tough finish.
“Ultimately, the roster was on me,” said Wolf. “We were 4-13. Just didn’t get enough done.”
It’s safe to say there were a lot of holes remaining heading into last season, with a fair amount of bad luck and misfortune compounding a problem that simply got worse as the season went on.
Their biggest problem came at tackle, which saw the Patriots unable to add any real depth as part of the class from the 2024 Patriots free agents. The top guys chose elsewhere, leaving New England having to settle on Chukwuma Okorafor, who obviously turned out to be a disaster.
He was someone Wolf and the coaches had confidence in, with the plan for Okorafor to potentially compete for the left tackle position, while Mike Onwenu was initially believed to possibly see time again at right tackle.
Instead, Okorafor walked away from the team barely two weeks into the season, while rookie Caedan Wallace’s injury also cost them another player. That forced depth guys like Vederian Lowe into the starting lineup on a full-time basis at left tackle, with the club then having to continue tweaking things until they found a group they could limp through the season with. Injuries at guard and a rough start at tackle saw Onwenu move back inside to his right guard spot.
Nick Leverett, another “best of the rest” signing, didn’t pan out, either. When David Andrews went down with his injury at center, Leverett, who once started for the Buccaneers and Tom Brady, didn’t play well. Ben Brown, who they found on Las Vegas’ practice squad, ended up replacing him and was a bright spot for a team desperate for answers.
Demontrey Jacobs, a player the club had claimed off waivers from Denver, ended up as their starting right tackle. He was another depth player who struggled badly enough where he benefitted from a cupboard that was bare at the position.
Needless to say, they came out of both free agency and the draft hoping they could figure things out and make it work. That didn’t turn out well. At all.
As a result, both Jacoby Brissett and Drake Maye took a beating last season. Brissett was sacked an astounding 18 times, despite starting just five games, along with the time he played in relief of Maye in Week 8 against the Jets. Maye was sacked 34 times, which is still a lot given how many times he eluded defenders over the course of last season.
Wolf said Wednesday that every hit was tough to watch, because he felt responsible.
“Every hit on Jacoby [Brissett] or Drake during the season, I felt responsible for that,” said Wolf. “Just ultimately, we didn’t get enough done up front. The game is always won on the lines, offensive line, defensive line, not just because of the Super Bowl. It’s always been that way. Ultimately, just didn’t do enough to improve the roster to get it to where we need it to be. So, that being said, again, just really excited about Coach Vrabel and the direction and vision that he’s provided in working together with these guys and getting this thing going.”
The biggest knock on Wolf could arguably be letting someone like Okorafor fool him into thinking he wasn’t the same headcase that caused the Steelers to part with him.
From there, the other gamble was targeting Ja’Lynn Polk where they did in April, given the run of tackles that happened around that point of the draft. It also didn’t help that neither Polk nor Javon Baker, who was taken with the additional 110th overall selection they got back in that deal from Los Angeles, panned out.
Still, Wallace’s injury was brutal and ended up being a key loss to a team that had no margin for error.
Heading into free agency, Wolf knows that can’t happen again. And while Okorafor’s name didn’t come up, Wolf did say on Wednesday that being more “thorough” with who they potentially sign is a focus for this year.
“I think maybe just being more thorough,” said Wolf when it came to what they saw as an issue last year. “Just some of the information that we got on some of the players wasn’t as thorough as it needed to be.”
“So I think just moving forward, we have a tremendous opportunity with this coaching staff. A lot of these guys have been other places. They’re familiar with these guys, and just having that familiarity with players is going to be an advantage for us moving forward.”
Unlike last offseason, the outlook is at least a little brighter. With Vrabel now here, along with the fact they have Maye instead of Mac Jones and Bailey Zappe, the ability to attract free agents should be a little better. Maye is a player who has shown the ability to make plays, and with the right supporting cast, he can certainly help an offensive free agent be productive.
For now, Wolf admitted that he’s hopeful things will be different this time around when they begin trying to inject some talent into this roster, and he’s excited to start putting it all together.
“Offensively, quite a bit, but defensively, some as well,” said Wolf when asked about his recruiting pitch revolving around Maye. “Drake showed tremendous improvement throughout the season. There’s still plenty of room to grow, but having that guy in place is paramount to our success. We’re really excited about the future that he can bring to our organization.”